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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Visiting Valley Nursery

Yea! It's started. The time when nurseries are once again full to the gills of plants with new ones arriving on a regular basis. Luckily, most nurseries in this region are open year round but there are so many more plants looking their best during the growing season! Come with me to visit Valley Nursery in Poulsbo.

Who grows marigolds anymore? Tagetes perhaps. The sulphur yellow and orange always make me smile. My kids sometimes start these from seed for mother's day gifts as they're so easy. One year someone put off doing the planting project too long. Magically, the seeds grew to blooming size in only two weeks. It's so cool working with very young children who actually thought this possible.

Some rhodies have amazing foliage but fairly forgettable flowers, like 'Superflimmer'

Precious are those that posses both fabulous flowers and foliage. 'Unique Variegaterd' is one of those.

In my very limited rhododendron experience, the prize for both showy foliage and drop-dead foliage goes to 'President Roosevelt.' Of course there is a drawback: the plants can be a bit weak, like to lean over, and sometimes require staking.

Exciting to see this beauty brought up north by Wehop.

Fortunately, the price was pretty high otherwise, one would have come home with me and there's no more full-sun space in my garden so something else would have had to be removed. Saving money and work. Hooray!

Not a great picture but what in inspired combination, perhaps for a Monday Vase.

Interesting idea. Just saw off part of a bottle and you've got a planter.

Shady ladies.

Cute bug was tempting but stayed at the store.

speaking of great combinations, the rhododendron in the back has burgundy/almost black foliage in the winter which gives way to chartreuse new growth then purple blossoms. The Pieris in the foreground has green winter foliage which just finished sending out new orange growth which would have been stunning against the burgundy. Now the foliage is going through a silvery phase. Of course there were also pieris blooms in there somewhere.

Let's face it Mildred, this place has everything.

I'd admired this tuteur on a previous trip and it was 70% off. Too tall for my car, it would have required the removal of a section. Not too difficult, just four small nuts...still, where would I put it? What would you do? Perhaps, if it's still there on my next visit...

9 comments:

When I read the phrase "my kids" I had to scroll up to see if I was reading the right blog, but then I realized you didn't mean familial. :) You're going to regret not taking home that tuteur I predict. (Also, stop making my type words that I have to look up three times to spell correctly!) ;P

Oh, 70% off! We could have tied it to the top of the mini van, except that we would not have been driving the mini van over there. Sigh. President Roosevelt rhodie has been around for a long time, was at one time the only variegated rhodie, and is still the best.

I can't wait until our local nurseries fill back up with plants! Hopefully in the next few weeks.. That looks like such a fun nursery, especially with all those accessories! I had to laugh about the little kids believing that the marigolds grew to blooming size in 2 weeks. When they are young, they believe it should only take that long (and I agree with them)!

About Me

Why Outlaw Gardener? I like to break the rules of good taste, plant placement, and plant hardiness. Also, I have received periodic "love notes" from the city code enforcement officer telling me that my parking strip plants encroach on the city's right-of-way. When expressing my distress over the latest such notice, I exclaimed to my pal Loree (Danger Garden) "I'm an outlaw gardener!" To which she replied,"That would be a good name for a blog."
My first gardens were in Southeast Alaska (zone 3.)I do miss the beauty and community of small-town Alaska but I don't take for granted for a moment how wonderful it is to garden in zone 8.